Gas-engine-driven air compressor



Jan. 24, 1928.

G. J. RATHBUN GAS ENGINE DRIVEN AIR COMPRESSOR H15 ATTO EY Filed Nov. 23, 1925 Patented Jan. 24, 1928 curren STATES PATENT OF IC eEOEeE'J. BATHBUN, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, ASSIGNGB. T0 INGERSOLL-RAND COMPANY, OE JERSEY our, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OE NEW JERSEY, AND THE nadir BUN-JONES ENGINEERING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OE OHIO.

GAS-ENGINEJJRIVEN AIR COMPRESSOR.

hApplic ationjfiled November 23, 1925. Serial No. 70,943.

This invention relates to engines and with respect to its more specific features to conplings for direct connected engines and pumps OICOIHPITQSSOI'S. A

The invention has for its object to eliminate the necessity of cross heads as a coupling means between the engine as for instance a combustion engine and a pump or compressor directly connected thereto.

Pumps or compressors which are double acting may be driven by a single acting engine suh as an internal combustion engine if a to maintain the operation of the compressor during those strokes of'the engine during. which power isnot produced. It iscustomary in connecting the pump or compressor to the engine to employ a cross head attached.

to the piston of the engine to which the con 7 necting rod to the fly wheel shaft and the rods to the pump or compressor are attached. Direct tie rods from thecross head to the compressor are. an advantage "since they eliminate a cross head attached to the piston rod of the compressor and thus shorten the coupling. Heretofore, however, the cross head for the engine has not been eliminated since with the usual arrangement of drive shaft and crank it has not been possible to connect the tie rods directly to the piston rod of the compressor and directly to the piston of the engine without interfering with the action of the crank or con necting rod. For instance, with the tie rods connected to the engine piston at points diametrically opposed, one of the rods must be placed above or below the drive shaft while the other rod will then be found to lie in the path of the connecting rod. By this invention the shaft to which the con necting rod of the engine is attached is lowered so that while the inner tie rod may be placed to just clear the shaft, the outer tie rod which lies outside of the crank pin will lie substantially opposite the center of the shaft or nearly so. In this mani'ier tie rods of the proper form may be provided to connect the piston rod of the compressor directly with the piston of the engine without the use of a cross head for the engine and without interfering with the fly wheel shaft or its crank and connecting rod.

Material practical advantages are afforded by this arrangement. The entire fly wheel is provided for the engine I assembly of compressor and driving engine is greatly shortened since the connecting rod from the engine piston to the fly wheel shaft may be directly connected on a wrist pin in the engine piston, thus saving the expense of a long bed plate for the installat on and the expense ofacross head. i

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and inpart pointed out hereinafter. i

The invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which Figure 2 is a vertical section throughtheengine showing the location of the drive shaft and the relative position of the tie rods, and i Flgure 3 is a vertical cross section through the tie rods looking in the direction of the driving shaft. q

Referringto, the drawings there is shown a port on of the cylinder A of an internal combust on engine having a piston B which is adapted to reciprocate within the. cylinder A to drive a piston C of a compressor having a cylinder 1). As is usually the case with an internal combustion engine the piston D is single acting; that is to say, power is developed on its forward stroke only. A fly wheel (not shown) is provided mounted on a suitable shaft E adapted to revolve in bearings F mounted in any desired manner on a bed Gr. The shaft E is rotated by means of a connecting rod H attached by means of, a wrist pin J to the piston B. The connecting rod H is suitably 1ournaled on a crank pin K of the shaft E.

The piston C is preferably double acting and is therefore provided with a piston rodof the same general type as the connecting rod H and a somewhat similar connecting rod was attached to the cross head of the piston rod L and the other connecting rod to transmit thedriving force to the compressor piston. Later, the cross head associated with the piston rod L was eliminated and also the eonnectingrod associated therewith by connecting the cross head of the driving engine directly tothe piston rod L' by rigid rods. This construction shortened the distance between the cylinder ofthe drivingengine and the cylinder ofthe compressor and provided a more compact assembly, and in addition eliminated one of the expensive cross heads. A further reduction in the cost and a more compact arrangement is gained by eliminating the cross head associated with the driving engine, but this has not been practical because the lugs connecting the piston of the driving engine with the piston of the compressor could not be placed so'as not to interfere with the throw of the crank for the fly wheel shaft in the arrangement hitherto provided. 1

As shown in Figure 1 it is desirable that the rods P, connecting the piston B of the driving engine with the piston C of the compressor, be diametrically opposite with respect to the axisof the piston B in order to avoid eccentric loading of that piston. In order to prevent the outer rodP from interfering with the rotation otthe connecting rod H by this invention the drive shaft E is dropped so that the outer rod P will lie in approximately a horizontal plane through the axis of the shaft E. In this position the inner rod P will lie over the end of the shaft E with a slight clearance attached to the piston rod L by means of a cross piece T secured by a nut U to the end of the piston rod L and provided with apertures through which the ends of the rodsP pass and are bolted by means of nuts V. it I claim:

A driving connectionapparatus for direct connected driving engines and reciprocating compressor, comprising, a fly wheel crank shaft between the engine and the compressm" cylinders and below their axes, a connecting rod journalled in the engine piston for driving said crank shaft, a single pair of rods directly attached to the piston of said driv ing engine and on opposite sides of the shaftcranlnone of said rods being disposed over the crank shaft,the other said rod being beyond the crank and below the piston axes, and inthe plane of said crank shaft axis, and a cross piecejoining the ends of the-pair of said rods andattached to the compressor piston rod. i

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification.

GEORGE J. RATHBUN. 

